For much of this year, Nintendo's latest entry in the Animal Crossing series has been a safe space for many Switch owners who have started a new life on Tom Nook's deserted island. Today marks 15 years exactly since the brilliant DS entry first arrived in North America, so it's the perfect time to revisit this feature — originally published in May this year — where we pop back to our old Wild World village after a decade away...
Was it Jack Reacher or someone else who said "never go back"? We forget, but when it comes to video games, nostalgia trips can be a disappointment. Some gems hold up beautifully, while others are irreparably tarnished by Mother Time and Father Progress and can't measure up to your treasured memories. Old games, fondly remembered, may also be tied up with people and places from your past that the game alone can’t replicate. Some things are best left alone; gone, but not forgotten.
Our last several weeks have been occupied playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. We've been making ourselves at home on Tom Nook's getaway island, meeting new villagers and grinning from ear to ear when we see familiar faces. We've had the good fortune of reuniting with several villagers we used to know, and catching up with old friends has been a big part of the experience.
Still, our memories of Animal Crossing: Wild World (the Nintendo DS entry and this writer's first encounter with Nintendo's sedate life sim series) are clouded with nostalgia. Our time with the game back in 2007-2008 was intense — an 18-month period where we played the game every single day — and it left behind an enduring affection, but the details are hazy now.
For several reasons, we haven't fired up the game in the time since, so in the interest of 'Science' and finding out how the 15-year-old version of Animal Crossing compares to the lovely, shiny New Horizons, we decided to finally revisit our old stomping ground. We wanted to refresh our failing memory, catch up with (very) old friends and see how the old place was holding up after over a decade of neglect. Still, we couldn’t shake the feeling that going back might be a mistake.
Only one way to find out.
Old friends
We powered up our DSi — an upgrade over the white DS Lite we originally played on — and heard that calming, charming theme once again before being presented with our bedroom:
The first thing to address was the elephant in the room, or more accurately, the ex in the room. The top floor of our house has two beds, one of which belongs to somebody we haven't seen or spoken to for a long time now. In all honesty, that's the main reason we never went back before now.
Time tends to paper over cracks, though, and many things have happened in the intervening years. We can now hop over the mental barrier that had previously blocked our curiosity to revisit the game. It's sobering, it's a little melancholy, but it's fine.
Into the weeds
As the village loads, we prepare ourselves for the worst. Remember in Ocarina when Link steps out of the Temple of Time to find Hyrule Market Town in ruins with shambling Redead groaning in the square? In our mind, that is what awaits us.
However, when the village finally loads, we step out our front door to find a rather cheerful ruin. It's very early in the morning and we're greeted by cloudless blue skies and the light-hearted 6 AM tune (soon followed by the whistling 7 AM one) that makes everything seem less forlorn.
As predicted, weeds stretch across Dibly from cliff to coast. Nature has taken over the town, and it reminds us of heading to our local park recently after two months of COVID-19 closure. The flowers are mostly gone, save for a few dried pansies that crumble to dust as we walk through them, but our resilient golden roses remain. Rotten acorns cover the ground (leftovers from an Autumnal festival, if memory serves) but the trees are laden with fruit and a brilliant blue sky has us imagining a full-time return; a little side-project away from our deserted island on Switch to whip Dibly back into shape after a decade away.
Our mailbox is dinging and we've got two letters: one from the Happy Room Academy (74,249 points - not bad!) and a second from the Post Office informing us of the 99,999 Bells of interest earned during our absence. Zoink!
Where are we? When are we?
The first thing that jumps out after going back to this 15-year-old game is the frame rate; silky smooth it ain't. Going from 30 fps to whatever this is is jarring, at least at first. We soon acclimatise, though - it's somewhere in the region of 20 fps, which sounds interminable, but for this type of game, it's entirely serviceable.
Dibly's exact geography is hazy in our mind (it's been a while), so we pull up our map - easily accessed using the stylus on the touchscreen. Control-wise, Wild World is still a joy and although you can play using buttons, we're touchscreen all the way.
A list of names denoting the residents' houses on the map immediately fills us with joy, and a little confusion. Stalwart favourites like Aurora and Twiggy — one of our first and favourite residents — are unforgettable, but who the hell is 'Mallary'? Must've moved here just before we abandoned the place.
Closing the map, we're about to start exploring the village when we spy movement...
Reunions
Aurora, who coincidentally has just moved to our island in New Horizons, is out fishing. She doesn't recognise us, but after exchanging pleasantries it's like we've never been away. She wants to race us to catch a crawfish, but we turn down her offer and feel bad afterwards.
Dora is another resident who also happens to be on our New Horizons island, so we head to her house and find all her things in cardboard boxes ready to move. We persuade her to stay, although we're not sure why. Dora's fine, but until we saw her again, we'd actually forgotten we'd met her before. Animal Crossing has always done a great job of making you feel bad for shunning characters, so our guilt must have kicked in and stopped her from leaving. We know it's common practice to socially engineer your population, but that always felt a bit fascist for our tastes.
Oh, we're not beyond leaving fossils that resemble turds outside Curlos' house and responding in the affirmative when he asks if moving is a good idea, but we're not gonna grass him up to Resident Services just because he's an arrogant, inconsiderate, unthinking sheep! We should really learn to get along with those types.
We soon catch up with Ribbot and Twiggy, although the other villagers are still sleeping. Disappointingly, the noticeboard by the Town Hall is up-to-date with recent messages. We missed La-Di-Dah Day at the start of the month, apparently. And Yay Day before that - too many events to count.
Pelly gives some harsh feedback regarding the absolute state of the town before we run into Saharah who asks us to deliver a package to Blathers. How fortunate! We were just heading that way.
Comments 69
Fab. Cannot have enough Animal Crossing stories. I personally think this site should just go ahead and re-brand itself: Animal Crossing Life.
"Going from 60 fps to whatever this is is jarring, at least at first." ACNH is 30 fps.
Nice and creative feature, Gavin! It’s interesting to revisit older games and see how our opinions of them have changed (or not).
“You can’t go home again.” Thomas Wolfe
@Judgedean Corrected. It felt like 60 after this Cheers
I love Wild World, got so many great memories of the villagers. I dread to think what state my town’s in now.
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning, I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never, never a honest word
And that was when I ruled the world
It was a wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh, who would ever want to be king?
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
....I'm afraid to boot up my Wild World game. On top of it just being an old save I haven't visited in years I was just a dumb kid back then who didn't know what he was doing. It's probably a poorly designed mess!
@dartmonkey No problem - glad to help.
@Lordplops and yet you took the time to at least comment if not read the article.
Well that was a nice wee read! New Horizons is my first animal crossing game so I perhaps read this differently to those of you who have played the others. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities, and to see how careful they have been to keep the new game true to its roots.
Since New Horizons, I haven't visited my two New Leaf towns for almost a month.
This was a fun read!
I started Animal Crossing with New Leaf, but I restart every time I play to avoid weed overloads. The last time I played was in March so I could get into the Animal Crossing vibe.
My wild world town is in perfect condition. I've been watering every flower every other day or so for the last two months, so it is quite overrun with them now.
Due to this article, I decided to go back to my old New Leaf town and see what happened to it. It had been over a year since I had gone to it and it was a mess. New Horizons for the win!
I still play wild World lol it's better than New Horizons
I wonder if anyone is still playing this... on a Wii U?
With no wireless support it must be lonely. At least on GC you can locally visit other villagers.
As a player who didn't get on the AC train until New Leaf, I have always found it exciting to see bits of the older games.
Argh my eyes!!
Just think, if Nintneod kept the Wii U going alongside the Switch rather than pretend to keep the 3DS going then Switch would be strictly viewed as a portable handheld w/ TV out and we'd all be marveling at how far Nintnedo has come w/ it's handheld hardware from Gameboy to DS to 3DS to Switch.
But instead the Wii U died and they positioned Switch as a home console you can take with you. Which is good, but a portable Wii U isn't the same "awe" as the improvement from 3DS to Switch as a portable console w/ TV out.
Sorry you had to read all that, my original post was just "Argh my eyes!!" but then I got the "You have to write more" error message, and once I start I can't stop.
I’m afraid to turn my Switch off now.
I actually prefer Wild World to New Horizons, because it is far more laid back. I love that I only need one hand to fully enjoy my town.
@BabyYoshi65 I went back to mine and I got a message that someone had cleared up all the weeds. I think this came with the Welcome Amiibo patch.
Wow, this really is jarring! Can't believe where we've come in gaming.
Lovely article.. in the week before the release of new horizons i visited my old AC:gc village, after more then ten years.. the gc had mvoed up when the wii had arrived i suppose.. door was still a love letter to my ex wife... ai.. the rest mirrors your experience as well..
@dartmonkey Yeah, it sure does feel that way. But I just booted up City Folk just for fun a few days back, and it was weirdly too smooth - that's when I realized that THIS is 60 fps, and NH is only 30.
I've got a save of the original GC version (on the original memory card that came with the game) that I probably haven't touched for at least 15 years now. I assume it looks like a cross between Mad Max and Hello Kitty by now and if I load it up Tom Nook will be the head of a cannibal cult with a large rhino called Eugene in arseless leather chaps as his chief enforcer.
By the way, I sincerely hope Dibly was named after Duane Dibley and not the Vicar of.
Oh back then when the villagers used to have a personality.
A fun article, it's nice to receive a little blast from someone else's past.
As to framerate, I think Wild World's was wildly unstable and even went down to 15fps.
Aurora had the eyes that go red all of the way back in Wild World? o.o Wow. I thought that was new to NH.
Wait you can get sonic background for messages?
I sold my Gamecube and all my games a few years ago so everything is gone now. But I remember checking in from time to time and being horrified by all the weeds and roaches to take care of — that and being dragged by the villagers who kept count of how many days I had not talked to them. Funny feature.
Thanks for the story, it was cool.
In 15 years, will I go back to New Horizons the same way . . . .
Animal Crossing on GameCube had the first Virtual Console service with the NES consoles you could find AND play the games that came with each one. One of the best features of Animal Crossing that never carried over to any after that.
Fun fact, the games (at least the newer ones like Wild World), only keeps track of how long you've been gone for a few months.
So that there so when you return to the game, your town won't have completely gone to ruin and most of your villagers won't have moved out on you.
Unless you're like me, reopening up New Leaf every few months with the intent of playing it again, only to leave it alone for several months again. By the time the amiibo update came around, I had 2 villagers that I kinda liked/knew, and everyone else where basically all strangers.
@TrainerX493 I always just assume I'd return to find Nookville, a host of factories in a plume of smog making cheap trinkets, and a now very unstable Blathers running experiments on the villagers in his glass cases.
Is it just me or is it jarring to see someone sir l write in the first person plural when it's clearly an individual's experience? I mean, it makes sense when someone is writing a review as it's kind of supposed to represent the site as a whole, but here...?
Phrases like "an 18-month period where we played the game every single day" just sound weird when it's obviously just Gavin speaking.
@FiveDigitLP We wants it, precious. It keeps it from us!
Nice bit of nostalgia. I'm literally playing through Rainbow six 3 on Game cube via HDMI and apart from the poor frame rate, it is just as tense as I remember. God I hope they bring back Doors in the next Rainbow.
@Judgedean I can lve with the 30fps on NH, at least it runs at native res.
But I wish the loading times were shorter.
Wild World was a good game with a fantastic soundtrack. Overall, I like it the least, however, since it didn't have holidays such as Halloween and Christmas in it whatsoever.
I loved this game, but did it really look that bad, of course the smaller DS screen made it look better in person, but still being spoiled by the glory of new horizons visuals.
Goodreads! I want to be cyberbullied in my animal crossing town!
this reminds me, i have to check up on my village from my GameCube. i have a few villages; one of them hasn't been touched since week one of the game.
at one point i just created as many towns i could with the intention of every town having a different fruit. also, i was trying to see if i could get two or more identical town. and, i did with the exception of their native fruit.
now to check up all of my old villages that are decades old and yes i cheated on some of these villages. since the game clock years stops at December 31st 2030 it will always reset to 2030 once you startup the game again after new years of January 2031.
its odd to see a game end on January st 2031 and start back up on December 31st 2031 even after it being started up on the 2nd of 2031. the in game clock keeps going on and on and on, but always resets to the last day apon startup.
has anyone here tried leaving their GameCube on all year or more to see if it will make it to 2032? or are we all smart enough not to over work the game console.
for all know there is a geek out there that modded the game so that you can set the in game clock past 2030. for all i know there is an action replay code that will allow up to set the date all the way up to 2130 and beyond. i wounder how much weeds there would be after 1000+ or even 1000+ years.
and how would all the animals react to that many years of abandonment? too bad it maxes out around 18 years. 2002 through 2030. (plus the first day of 2031 unless you want to leave your system on all day and all night without exiting to save your game progress)
Nice article. Back in those days my ex girlfriend and I played that game a ton together. We each had a DS Lite and would spend a lot of time playing together helping each other out. We still keep in touch from time to time and she's deep into New Horizons and I haven't played anything Animal Crossing since Wild World. The game in general is not my cup of tea however sharing it with someone made it more worth while and unique experience. When her and I broke up that pretty much ended my Wild World playing along with any future Animal Crossing games. My current girlfriend is the complete opposite type and is very anti anything video games so there's zero chance of experiencing that with someone again currently. No big deal I'm happy and fulfilled with that past time.
@Rayquaza2510 Same - this type of game is fine at 30fps with its slow pace.
I started replaying New Leaf at the start of lockdown 2.0. That game holds up really well, especially as so much of its content either isn't yet or is unlikely to make it to New Horizons.
I still go back and clean mine every now and then.
@FiveDigitLP Not just you, it's really jarring. The editorial "we" is not appropriate for every article, and I've always found it very weird that NLife insist on using for everything. No other journal or website does this.
you can also still play online no need to hack your system all you need is wiimmfi's dns in DS connections
So, you all have the same ex? I guess that's why it didn't work out.
@AlienX Nice Last Window icon
The first Aninal Crossing (GameCube) is still the best of them all and it has aged quite well in my opinion. I have played and own all the Animal Crossing games but I still find Population Growing to be superior in many angles.
@Goat_FromBOTW : I have noticed that the games have become progressively less witty since the GameCube game (though my first AC game was Wild World, I have seen my share of GC footage and thought "Why can't we have that anymore?"), and the dialogue in New Horizons has been byfar the worst yet. The use of modern lingo also stands out as anachronistic, and I cannot help but be annoyed when I encounter it as it will inevitably date the game sooner than previous instalments.
I made a comment elsewhere that I suspected that such changes were likely made to avoid "offending" anybody and/or due to a generational shift as the dialogue is likely to have been written by a younger, inexperienced, and less literary team, and the game is all the poorer for it considering how integral the dialogue is to the game. The most egregious casualty is Resetti, who was allegedly expelled due to being too "mean" or "scary".
I previously proposed that Resetti could be brought back to make an announcement whenever a new software update has been made (and he can mercilessly disparage the developers for their many oversights) which would be a great use of the character, but alas, he, like so many other visitors/guests, have gone AWOL. Most of their amiibo cards won't even spawn the characters on Harv's Island, suggesting that their data/character models aren't even in the game (although they do unlock a poster).
I have seen some of the "gamer" types that have gone on to find work in the industry, and I maintain that dialogue ought to be written by more literary, non-gamer types, and without the insidious injection of one's biased ideological position into something that never existed in the original (Japanese) work. There are certain unnecessary elements being incorporated into Western games as "standard" features nowadays, and if Nintendo ever makes such elements a mainstay, then I am out.
I have revisited my village a few months ago, and was pretty disappointed. Apart from the abundance of weeds (yaay!) nothing else has changed, really.
I also recall writing a letter to "future me" back then, but can't remember when I had dated it as I hadn't yet received it.
This is pretty cool.
I did this the week before acnh arrived, booting AC gamecube, similar experience to here.. without brewster obv.
I have still never played an AC game, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article.
@Franklin
K.K. Slider: “... Cool. Thanks for chilling with my Viva la Vida cover. Look in your pockets—I slipped a copy. Dig?”
Wild World was my first Animal Crossing game, and I didn't really care for it. Just seemed like there was nothing to do other than try to pay off your exorbitant mortgage that Tom Nook insisted on foisting on you whether you asked for it or not. The series didn't really click with me until New Leaf which at 500+ hours was my most played 3DS game, and now there's New Horizons which is on its way to eclipsing my New Leaf play time.
I've only ever owned the GameCube version and I haven't played it in years. If I ever fire it up again, I expect to see weeds everywhere outside and cockroaches in my house.
Using "we" constantly, when this is clearly the experience of a single person, is really out of place and a poor choice of wording.
We find very disturbing the use of the "we" pronoun when it should clearly be written from an "I" perspective. We hope it won't happen too often.
Fired up New Leaf a few weeks ago (haven't played in 5 years or so), and man I forget how odd some of the things were. I was looking for Nook's place but forgot that it doesn't exist in the game. And then came updates for camping, and a whole other place to visit (with the rebranding). Needless to say I wanted to get back into before I play NH but it was just too overwhelming to try and figure out the old stuff AND all the new updates that have came through.
@rjejr
It's ok. Have a glass of wine and relax.
@EVIL-C
Oi! He's got a crown so it's obviously the 'Royal We'.
@k8sMum That was 6 months ago. Not that I've gotten any more relaxed, holiday shopping for my family always stresses me out, and we're still in a pandemic, and an ongoing coup attempt, so I could still use that glass of wine, just wanted to point out it's for different reasons than 6 months ago. 😁
Happy holidays. 🎄
@rjejr
I never even noticed the date. Not that it matters as time is now measured in dog's years.
2020: the year it all went sideways. As you say, between the pandemic and the banana republic coup attempt, it often feels as if we've slipped into an alternate reality. Covid deaths have now reached more than combat deaths in WWII. Loneliness is the only company some have now.
Ah, well. Onwards and upwards, as they say. Peace and health to you and yours. Happy Holidays.
@k8sMum Things are so bad in this alternate reality I'm waiting for people to start saying Disney+ started the pandemic just to get more people to sign up for their service. (If they did it worked, 86 million is insane.) Maybe in cahoots with HBO Max. No more free trials offered by either one makes them worse than drug dealers - can't even get the first hit for free anymore.
Anyway streaming services is my current distraction in case you couldn't tell, signed up for 3 last month, both those 2 for Christmas. Just bought my wife a comfy chair as her gift to sit in to watch it all as she's off for 11 days and we have no plans but binging. B/c 2020. 🎄
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